This PhD vacancy concerns one of the two PhD positions at the University of Twente in the All-Risk program. The technology
foundation (TTW) of the national science foundation NWO recently funded the Perspectief programme: "All-Risk, implementation
of new risk standards in the Dutch flood protection program P15-21". All-Risk is joint program with 14 PhD and 4 Postdoc
positions, in which 8 universities and research institutes and many public and private parties collaborate to investigate flood
risk and how measures such as flood defences can reduce this risk.

In 2014, the Dutch Flood Protection program (HWBP) adopted a new probabilistic risk approach for the management of the flood
defences. Protection standards are expressed as flooding probabilities of polder areas, implying that multiple failure mechanisms
for all dike sections within a dike ring must be considered, and then combined to assess the overall flooding probability.
Implementation of this new approach will start already in the coming years. The transition therefore urgently calls for the
cutting-edge scientific knowledge provided by our proposed research in the fields of A) development of the risk framework, B)
characterizing dynamics in hydraulic loads, C) understanding subsoil heterogeneity, D) quantifying flood defence reliability,
and E) organizing law, governance and implementation. This vacancy addresses project D3: "Modelling overtopping erosion for
innovative measures".

Project description

Failure of a dike cover due to wave overtopping erosion may initiate dike breach. Surface transitions in the grass cover,
such as cure points, height difference, roughness difference and objects are often weak spots (Meer et al., 2014, Dean et al.
2010, Van Steen & Van Hoven, 2013), but the effects on the location and evolution of dike cover erosion is highly uncertain.
Dike cover erosion is dominated by the turbulence-dominated shear stress at the jet front. Therefore, a detailed FEM model
is required with a sufficiently accurate turbulence model. In this project the model of Bomers et al. (2016) and Aguilar-Lopez
(2016) will be further developed, tested and applied to evaluate protection measures to provide insight in the effect of hard
constructions on dikes. The aim of this PhD project is to develop tools for probabilistic safety assessment due to dike cover
erosion for a range of grass types and transitions and develop innovative protection measures.

The objectives of this PhD work are:

To develop and validate a numerical model that is able to predict the hydrodynamics and erosion of the dike cover due to wave overtopping.

To investigate the effect of vegetation, transitions and objects (non-water retaining structures) on the probability of failure of the dike cover.

To quantitatively or qualitatively assess the effect of interventions, such as innovative measures and maintenance strategies on the reliability of the dike cover.

Close collaboration with the other PhDs in the project (D) and with the users is required.

The research will be executed at the University of Twente, under supervision of the promotor (Prof.dr. Suzanne J.M.H. Hulscher),
daily supervisor (dr. Jord J. Warmink) and the other members of the All-Risk consortium. This PhD project runs in close collaboration
with the other sub-projects in the programme, hosted at the universities of Twente, Delft, Wageningen, Groningen, Nijmegen and Utrecht.
The project is co-funded by STOWA, Rijkswaterstaat (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment), Deltares and the companies HKV,
RHDHV, Arcadis, Witteveen+Bos, HillBlocks and several waterboards. A user group of externals has been formed to further warrant the
applicability of the outcomes of this research.

Education (min 12.5 %) and teaching (10%) are also part of the PhD position at the UT.

Requirements

Your MSc is in Civil Engineering, Geosciences (e.g. Physical Geography or Geophysics), Mathematics, Environmental studies
or a related field. We are looking for a talented, enthusiastic researcher with an active attitude and broad interests
covering hydraulic engineering, modelling, flood risk and fluid mechanics.

We consider it important that the candidate is able to view his/her research from a broader perspective (within the All-Risk
programme, the scientific world and towards the practical application) and that he/she is willing and able to collaborate
closely with other researchers in the programme and involved users in the team. Therefore, we welcome entrepreneurial
candidates with an open mind, strong communicative skills and excellent comprehension of English, in both spoken language
and writing.

Experience in the use of numerical models is required, as is a good command of the English language. Non-dutch or non-native
English speaking candidates need to provide IELTS or TOEFL-iBT test results. In addition, comprehension of the Dutch language
is strongly beneficial in order to enable interaction with users. Some of the desired skills can be acquired during an individual
training programme of 840 hours that is part of the PhD project.

More information and application

For more information about this vacancy you can contact Dr. Jord Warmink, telephone +3153-4892831, e-mail:
j.j.warmink@utwente.nl. The start of the project is planned around September 2017. Candidates that expect
to graduate around this moment are also invited to apply. Please send your application letter, with a curriculum
vitae, transcript (list with grades of courses attended), references and, if applicable, a list of publications
before May 20th 2017 through the button below. You can upload a maximum of 3 documents.

Conditions of employment

We offer a very challenging position in an inspiring multidisciplinary and international environment. As a PhD candidate you will
be offered a fulltime position for four years, after which you should have completed your PhD thesis. In accordance with the
Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities the gross monthly salary increases from € 2.191,- in the first year
to € 2.801,- in the final year. In addition, the University of Twente offers attractive fringe benefits.

Employer

The University of Twente. We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which drives change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university in the Netherlands; divided over five faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. The University of Twente has a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out pioneering research.

The Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET) is one of the five faculties of the University of Twente. ET combines Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Industrial Design Engineering. Our faculty has approximately 1800 bachelor and master students, 400 employees and 150 PhD candidates. The departments of the faculty cooperatively conduct the educational programmes and participate in interdisciplinary research projects, programmes and the research institutes: MIRA, CTIT, SBE and IGS.